Last of Summer

Chapter 1: Aubrey

Doomed. That was all I got out of the words coming from the doctor's mouth. I was doomed. My days were numbered. I would never get the chance to meet The One; I would never get married and would never live to see my friends get married either; and I would never live to see my grandchildren play in the yard on sunny afternoons. That wasn't even all of the things I had wanted to do with my life, but those were the most important to me.

It was like I was watching a movie as the doctor delivered the news; Mom broke down crying, Dad was in shock, and I just sat there, showing no emotion. At first, I was numb; I thought that there was no way this could be happening to me. Not me. I was the girl who always got her vaccines and kept her hands clean; I was the girl who never ate anything that hit the ground, but then it occurred to me that it was more than that.

While I sat there and watched everyone else break, it finally sank in. Screaming, crying, and denial weren't things that I did at that moment. The one thing that could tear down everyone else, the one thing that was happening to me, wasn't affecting me like it was them. Maybe it was because I had never been afraid of death. The thought of a world better than this was something that peaked my curiosity. Yet, I still had a lingering sadness inside me, knowing what I would be leaving behind. Where I was silent, my mom was anything but.

"No, this can't be it. Doctor, please tell us there's another way. T-There's got to be something else!" she sobbed. But there was nothing else. There was nothing left to do. I could take all the therapy and all the medicine they gave me, but it wouldn't helped. I was doomed, like a girl with a bomb strapped to her heart. When time ran out, I would too.

I didn't hurt; I wasn't concerned. That is until I thought about Elizabeth, and that was when it really sank in. Never in a million years would I want to tell her something like this, and never did I imagine I would have to. I turned away so that Mom and Dad couldn't see my eyes fill with tears. I had to be strong for them, even if I was the one who was going to die. It wasn't going to make things any better if I lost it too.

Before I could have any second thoughts, I pulled out my phone and called Elizabeth. Luckily, my call went to her voicemail or there was no way I would have had all the nerve to tell her.

"Hey, I need to talk to you. Please, call me back," I said and then hung up.

I couldn't even imagine how she would feel. The future that we had envisioned for ourselves together was going to be cut short, too short. Trying to look at it in her shoes, I knew that something like this would tear me apart. In the end, I don't know which one of us was dying.